Free Republic

Hundreds of anti-Israel protestors took over the Manhattan Bridge Saturday night, initially blowing off cops who tried to set up set up barricades to block their paths. Demonstrators blocked vehicles on the bridge’s upper level, stalling traffic, according to images posted on X. The demonstrators initially gathered near Brooklyn’s Barclays Center before heading northwest onto the bridge and into Manhattan, according to reports.

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Washington Post Associate Editor and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart denied that President Joe Biden’s threat to withhold certain weapons from Israel if they invade Rafah’s population centers was motivated by politics because Biden has “done a lot of things on the world stage that, domestically, have hurt him,” such as “the withdrawal from Kabul and how disastrous that was.”

While speaking at a fundraiser in Seattle, Washington, on Saturday, President Joe Biden said there could be a ceasefire in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas if the U.S.-designated Islamic terror group “would release” the remaining hostages. “There would be a ceasefire tomorrow if Hamas would release the hostages, the women and the elderly and the wounded,” Biden said. “As I’ve said, it’s up to Hamas–if they wanted to do it, we could end it tomorrow.”

Robberies in New York City are surging, police data show. While most major crimes are down, including shootings and murders, robberies shot up 5.6% so far in 2024 over the same period in 2023 — to 5,522 from 5,228 as of May 5. Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, pointed out that robberies have a low arrest rate — with only about 25% of cases solved because victims typically don’t know their attackers.

Celebrity chef Madison Cowan has relied on soft eviction laws to avoid more than $145,000 in rent payments on his Brooklyn apartment the past four-and-a-half years, his landlord claims. The British-born former champ of the Food Network’s “Chopped” and “Iron Chef” owes 53 months in back rent on a one-bedroom Boerum Hill pad he and his family have occupied since October 2019, according to landlord Gus Sheha. Cowan hasn’t paid a cent of rent since January 2020, relying on legal loopholes like repeatedly appealing eviction orders to remain in the State Street apartment, said the landlord.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking a 40-year prison sentence for David DePape, the man convicted of attacking now-former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband in October 2022. Federal prosecutors said Friday that the sentence would “reflect the nature and circumstances of the offense,” USA Today reported on Saturday. When the initial incident happened at the Pelosi residence in San Francisco, California, police were dispatched to the scene and later said DePape attacked Pelosi’s husband, Paul, with a hammer, Breitbart News noted.

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher reacted to New York Times Executive Editor Joe Kahn arguing that the paper shouldn’t be an instrument for the Biden campaign and only write negative stories about Republicans while writing solely positive stories about Biden by stating that this is what the paper does now. Maher said, “Now that I’m doing interviews…the big question that people are asking me, I see every interviewer ask the same question, which is like, you make fun of the left a lot more than you used to. Yes, I do, because they’re goofier and...

Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair, said military aid to Israel should continue, through the war conduct report released by the State Department on Friday “raised concerns.” Cardin’s remarks on transferring military aid to Israel are different than that of the White House, as President Biden withheld sending over some bombs to the U.S. ally last week and said earlier this week the U.S. would stop supplying weapons like artillery shells and bombs if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) goes forward with a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah, the city in the south of the Gaza...

President Biden referred to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as the president of South Korea on Friday in his latest gaffe involving world leaders. Biden, 81, was in the middle of attacking his 2024 opponent, former President Donald Trump, over his close relationship with the dictator when he made the blunder. “We’ll never forget his love letters for the South Korean President Kim Jong Un or his admiration for Putin — what a great leader Putin is,” the president said during remarks at a campaign reception in Portola Valley, Calif.

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) stated that President Joe Biden “has been ironclad” in his support of Israel but “what I think we have here is a problem of imprecision in the communication from the President.” And that the Biden administration should raise its concerns with Israel privately “because it leaves room for misunderstandings. And look, leaving the impression of possible daylight emboldens Hamas, risks emboldening Hamas, risks the possibility or even likelihood of it being less likely that we can get our hostages home, particularly our American hostages.”

Chicago police say a 13-year-old girl was shot by a car owner Tuesday morning while allegedly trying to steal the car. Police updated information on the incident, saying that the owner shot at the 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy who was allegedly with her, according to ABC 7. A bullet hit the girl “in the right side of her body” and she was taken to the hospital, where she was “in stable condition.”

“Don’t jump,” President Joe Biden shouted this week for at least the 20th time as president, raising concerns on the campaign trail about his mental acuity. Biden, 81, whom special counsel Robert Hur described as “an elderly man with a poor memory,” often uses the phrase “Don’t jump” to joke or taunt his critics. Biden typically directs his wisecrack at individuals who are standing near a ledge or on a balcony, though no video evidence shows anyone seeking to “jump” from their perch. He once told a person standing just a few feet in front of him not to jump....

A defiant French teacher is still in the classroom after being fired by the Department of Education — crowing that the city “can’t touch me” despite the sexually-charged accusations that got her sacked, including making nearly 30,000 late-night texts to a schoolgirl. Dulaina Almonte, 33, lost her job at Harry S. Truman High School in The Bronx in 2020 after the Special Commissioner of Investigation substantiated claims of her creepy behavior with teens. “I can’t be guilty if I’m still a teacher,” Almonte — who now teaches at a Bronx charter school — boasted to The Post this week.

ROME — Pope Francis lamented the West’s continued demographic decline, insisting on Friday that fewer children signals a lack of hope in the future. Countering “outdated” myths of dangerous overpopulation, the pontiff contended that far from being a problem, human beings are the solution to the world’s difficulties. Without naming names, the pope seemingly referred to characters like Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich, who penned the 1968 doomsday bestseller The Population Bomb, which sparked hysteria over the future of the world and the earth’s ability to sustain human life.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces began a renewed ground assault on Ukraine’s northeast, killing and injuring several and forcing more than 1,700 civilians to evacuate from the Kharkiv region, local officials said Saturday. Artillery, mortar, and aerial bombardments hit more than 30 different towns and villages, leaving at least three people dead and five others injured, said Kharkiv governor, Oleh Syniehubov. Ukraine rushed reinforcements to the Kharkiv region on Friday to hold off a Russian attempt to breach local defenses, authorities said.

President Joe Biden said during a fundraiser Friday in San Francisco, California, that he wished former President Donald Trump had injected himself with bleach. While speaking at the fundraiser on Friday, Biden referenced a false claim that Trump had once suggested people “inject bleach” to help treat the coronavirus, saying he wished the former president “had done a little bit himself,” according to the Jerusalem Post.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) announced his proposed $288 billion state budget, which would cut thousands of vacant state jobs and funding to more than 200 state programs in order to close the state’s $27.6 billion deficit. Newsom revealed his budget proposal on Friday for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which starts on July 1, citing the importance of accountability and responsibility, according to ABC7 News. This comes a month after state officials agreed to reduce California’s deficit by $17.3 billion after Newsom announced in January that the state’s deficit was $37.9 billion. The state deficit ended up being closer to $45...

Dozens of Israel supporters protested outside “traitor” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office in Manhattan on Friday, calling on him to resign for “backstabbing” Israel and allegedly staying silent as antisemitism rages across college campuses. The demonstration came days after the New York senator told reporters he has “faith” in President Biden’s decision to withhold weapons for Israel’s invasion of Rafah, a move the protesters strongly condemned. “Schumer, the doomer! It’s time to resign!” yelled the crowd of about 40 protesters outside his Midtown office.

On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) stated that America wants “to continue to be” Israel’s best ally but “the Biden administration, and certainly I would agree here, has a very strong disagreement with how Israel is conducting the war in Gaza. And so, if Israel wants to go ahead and do whatever it’s doing, regardless of the American position, there will be consequences, and that will be seen in the Congress and undoubtedly seen in the actions of the administration.”

NEXSTAR) – It’s been almost 20 years since we’ve seen a geomagnetic storm as strong as the one heading our way this weekend. Power operators and other groups that maintain critical infrastructure are preparing for what might happen when the coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, hit Earth. But is there anything you should be doing? A G4-level solar storm, such as the one expected to hit as soon as Friday evening, can cause issues with the power grid, radio communications and the accuracy of GPS.